The Association of Commerce, Industry and Services (ACIS), in partnership with the Mozambique Stock Exchange (BVM) and Moza Banco, held this Thursday, February 16, in Maputo, a breakfast on economy and business on the theme “Macroeconomic Prospects for 2023 and Sustainability of Mozambican Companies”.
On the occasion, the chairman of the Mozambican Stock Exchange (BVM), Salim Valá, spoke of the various challenges that companies face, including lack of adequate infrastructure, lack of skilled labour, complex and excessively bureaucratic regulations and reduced access to funding.
Joaquim Jaime, member of the executive commission of Moza Banco, pointed out some of the challenges faced by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): the lack of organised accounting, which somehow makes them disorganised in terms of financial control; the low share capital, leading SMEs to present weak financial indicators; the centralised management by the company’s only partner; and the lack of working capital, which causes a strong dependence on external capital.
Speaking on “Empowerment and Capacity Building of Mozambican Companies: The Vision of the Mozambican Stock Exchange”, Salim Valá said that “for companies to be more competitive and more profitable they must be empowered, so that they have more power to make choices”. He continued: “companies seek profitability and profitability, but if they do not have a strong institution with capacity, those gains in profitability may be momentary. So, strengthening the institution itself with the appropriate human capital is an economic asset for the business sector itself and is a source of competitive advantage for companies”.
Salim Valá also referred, at the same session, that “we, as BVM, are not satisfied, because we have 12 listed companies, with a market capitalisation of 24.5%, which is still very little. The average for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is 35%, and we want to be at that level in 2026,” he added. Even so, “we are partly satisfied because the State, ‘owner’ of the stock market, uses the institution a lot to finance itself, but businesspeople still do not.
In his turn, the IMF representative in Mozambique, Alexis Mayer, who was speaking on the “Importance of Human Capital in the Economic Development Process,” said that “education in Mozambique is fundamental to sustaining sustainable, diversified and inclusive growth, which will reduce poverty,” and noted that “investments in education should be based on reconciling quantity and quality.
The event brought together various relevant actors in the country’s development, with emphasis on representatives of the public sector, private sector development support agencies, diplomatic institutions, among others.
